Starlight Dance in Kettering is a good dance school for boys. Though they do loads of different styles of dancing and the focus is on commercial dance/show teams, the principal is male and runs a weekly ballet class for boys and a yearly ballet productions where all the boys get at least a feature role. The female RAD teacher loves boys dances and everyone in the classes learn both the boys and girls syllabus.
There are several boys in the pointe class and last month I did my Intermediate Foundation exam with a girl who chose to do the male syllabus as she wanted to do the boys variation (she also wanted to do pointe rather than the boy's allegro but the RAD couldn't wrap their head around that one).

Completely agree - I have the narrowest feet in existence and I swear all the dance shops within a 50 mile radius of my house only stock Bloch ones (and still have to special order in the narrower sizes). I ended up with Freed 0X with extra elastic to keep them on my heels and they still gape and make me look like I'm not pointing my feet.

Thanks everyone, it went well. I warmed up enough before hand and I think the cold & numb toes actually helped with the pointe work.
Free enchainment was lovely and easy: Right foot in front, arms to 2nd on intro. Sissonne over, sissonne devant, sissonne over, sissonne devant, pas de bourre under, stretch bend, with arms in 3rd on the sissonnes and the back out to second on the pas de bourre.

So happy grade 7 went well for you @Viv. Grade 8 is a lovely dancey/performance based grade so even if you don't take the exam, it's lovely to learn.
I'm never going to get a distinction but I agree, it doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to take the exams and my teacher definitely gives me more corrections and pushes me further than if I were just taking the classes for fun. Saying that, I wouldn't like to take multiple exams in one go - I think the nerves alone would knacker me out.

I use to really enjoy the RAD tips youtube channel as their annotations on their videos were useful things to think about for exams and gave you an idea for what the examiners were looking for - such as the mood of the dance, the need for epaulement, suggested imagery etc.. However, as they've gone into the higher levels the tips have turned into "we did x, y and z wrong, do this arm/timing instead". I love watching other people dancing syllabus work that I've done and find it really interesting to see how they're taught/interpreted differently by everyone.

Sounds like I've got some work to do! RAD don't make soft blocks compulsory for IF but they are for my dance school - I'm going to have to wear them if I take any further vocational exams anyway and they'll help strengthen my feet so I don't mind so much. It's just an adjustment from dancing in my soft shoes.

Congratulations, @The_Red_Shoes. I love watching other adults dancing ballet. I wish more people were aware how accessible ballet is to all ages and that it's not just flexible teenagers who can do well.
My teacher's putting my in for my Intermediate Foundation exam in November. Was feeling okay about it until I had to start dancing in soft blocks. I also haven't done pointe properly since March and I need to do a lot of work to get that up to exam standard.

Since no one on youtube seems to be uploading themselves dancing to this new syllabus, I thought I'd be the first out there with Level 3 Barre. Far from perfect but you can always watch the DVD for that.

The school I dance at in Kettering has weekly boys' only ballet classes with a male ballet teacher on Friday afternoons. They're currently advertising it as one of the only boys-only classes in the country so I don't know how rare they really are.
I know my teacher often gets frustrated when RAD course skip the boys dances for higher grades because none of the other teachers have any boys in their classes.